Rape in the US is down more than 80% since 1979

Screenshot "The Better Angels of Our Nature Why Violence Has Declined" ©2011 Steven Pinker

Statistics Show Drop In U.S. Rape Cases - Washington Post 6/19/06

"Overall, there has clearly been a decline over the last 10 to 20 years," said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women. "It's very liberating for women, in terms of now being able to be more free and more safe."

The Decline of Rape - LA Times 02/08/07

he U.S. Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey (considered our best measure of crime because its anonymous surveys capture offenses not reported to police) reports that rape has been falling dramatically for decades. The first survey, in 1973, estimated that 105,000 females, ages 12 to 24, were raped that year. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the survey was expanded to include sexual assault and attempted or threatened offenses. Even so, the latest survey (in a young female population 1 million larger than in 1973) reported that 30,000 females, ages 12 to 24, were raped and 60,000 were victims of attempted rape or real or attempted sexual offenses (including verbal threats) in 2005.

The Startling Decline in Rape - Washington Monthly 6/3/11

This is an astounding decline, but I don’t know of any reason to doubt the accuracy of the numbers. The National Crime Victimization survey is conducted twice a year, with a sample size of 134,000. Rapes reported to the police have been shrinking more slowly than survey-reported rapes, and actually rose from 1979-1990, consistent with other data showing an increasing willingness of victims to report having been raped.

Rape in Chicago Down By 60% since 1999 - CityData.com

US Crime Rates 1960 - 2011 (reported only)

Index of Crime in the United States 1979 - 2007 - (reported only)

National Crime Victimization Survey rape statistics 1979 (Google search)

This article could make you grateful for infanticide!

Why They Kill Their Newborns - By Steven Pinker

Health Care in Chile

Auge plan There are a number of high-mortality pathological conditions (currently 69[5]) that have special guarantees for both Isapre and Fonasa affiliates. The Auge (from the Spanish Acceso Universal con Garantías Explícitas, "Universal Access with Explicit Guarantees") or Ges (Garantías Explícitas en Salud, "Explicit Guarantees in Healthcare") plan includes four guarantees in relation to these illnesses:[4] Access: individuals will be able to get attention from a network of providers near their place of residence, Opportunity: there is a maximum pre-established time limit to get attention (both initial attention and after the diagnosis), Quality: services will follow technical requirement standards that will be established based on medical evidence, and Financial coverage: payment to providers cannot be an obstacle to attention. There will be a maximum copayment of 20% of the cost, with the total not to exceed one month of income for the family in a year. [ "Few people realize that end stage renal disease is a disease for which we have universal coverage, irrespective of your age right here in the United States... The principle of covering everyone for serious diseases is already well established...  one way we could have had universal health insurance in this country was to extend the number of organs covered.  Imagine if we covered the heart and the liver".

- Victor Rodwin - Professor of Health Policy and Management Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service New York University

"The composite rate is intended to cover all operating and capital costs that efficient providers would incur in furnishing dialysis in outpatient facilities or in beneficiaries' homes. The base composite rate as of 2006 is $130 for freestanding dialysis facilities. Medicare caps its payments to facilities at an amount equal to three dialysis sessions per week. Although home dialysis may be given more frequently it is not fully reimbursed by Medicare." Wikipedia - End Stage Renal Disease Program

Libya Lies

What Qaddafi said:

Speaking on a call-in radio show, [Qaddafi] promised amnesty for those "who throw their weapons away" but "no mercy or compassion" for those who fight. - NYTimes - 18 March 2011

What Obama SAID Qaddafi said in trying to justify the US attack:
"At this point, the United States and the world faced a choice.  Qaddafi declared he would show “no mercy” to his own people.  He compared them to rats, and threatened to go door to door to inflict punishment.  In the past, we have seen him hang civilians in the streets, and kill over a thousand people in a single day.  Now we saw regime forces on the outskirts of the city.  We knew that if we wanted -- if we waited one more day, Benghazi, a city nearly the size of Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world". - POTUS March 28, 2011

"We lead from the front," Obama said. "We introduced the resolution in the United Nations that allowed us to protect civilians in Libya when (Muammar) Gadhafi was threatening to slaughter them. - USA Today - 11/10/27

“Gaddafi airstrikes on Libya did not take place” – Russian military

"Did gaddafi really threaten slaughter civilians" - Google Search

Black Africans lynched by Libyan "rebels" - Google Search

Libya's "Great Man Made River" Bombed by NATO - Google Search

We Already Have Universal Health Coverage!

"Few people realize that end stage renal disease is a disease for which we have universal coverage, irrespective of your age right here in the United States... The principle of covering everyone for serious diseases is already well established...  one way we could have had universal health insurance in this country was to extend the number of organs covered.  Imagine if we covered the heart and the liver".

- Victor Rodwin - Professor of Health Policy and Management Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service New York University

Skokie: Invaded, But Not Conquered Film Trailer - YouTube

Skokie: Invaded, But Not Conquered Film Trailer - YouTube

Aaron Freeman - INCISITY Interview w/Dean Clark - Negroes and Niggers In...

Blame It On Kabul

Loud thermobaric explosions at dawn, fill a man's heart with romance
Kalashnikovs crackling at dusk make him want, to go find some woman and dance
The scent of an improv explosive device wafts from the nose to the heart
From there it heads south to a bodily region where trouble has been known to start
Afghanistan's Capitol is such a place as feminine mystery abounds
With woman flesh covered in burkas it is fantasy's favorite town
With all the repressed sexuality there who might not behave like a fool?
Passion, deception, intrigue and betrayal let's just blame it all on Kabul

 Look at poor general David Petraeus he never stood one chance in hell
When into Afghanistan's heated milieu came super-hot Paula Broadwell
With a body as hard as an M-16 barrel and responsive to touch like its trigger
Broadwell's attention made Petraeus' ego and some of his other parts bigger
The CIA chief's secret love gives real meaning to the old term "gag rule"
But secrets, skulduggery danger and lies are just par for the course in Kabul

General John Allen is just one more guy caught up in the lust of the war
Testosterone mixed with adrenaline and made his heart burst with amor
The boom of the bombs and the boobs of the babe turned marital honor to jelly
And 30,000 documents later we know he fell for Jill Kelley
He general's rational mind lost the fight between it and has manly crown jewels
But once he arrived in the place he was done for everyone's crazed in Kabul 

It all seems so tawdry, puerile and low class that's why it's so darn much fun!
With each peeling back of the onion skin you think the good part's just begun
Sure they are four-star generals but fundamentally they are just guys
And we are entitled to any opinion about men except for surprise

But cut them some slack, let's save them some face let's make a new Golden Rule
 Thou shall not judge men who just follow hormones, especially when there in Kabul

What a Wonderful World!

Julian Assange -The World Tomorrow

Jacob Zuma's Spear

The Taliban on Facebook

How Banks Got Too Big to Fail | Mother Jones

As if you needed more reasons to support the Occupy Wall Street movement, this chart illustrates that before the passage of Gramm-Leach-Bliley there were a lot more banks, none of which were too big to fail.

How Banks Got Too Big to Fail | Mother Jones

Cubs-Sox Crosstown Classic - My Voiceover

How the Medicaid Rebate on Prescription Drugs Affects Pricing in the Pharmaceutical Industry

How the Medicaid Rebate on Prescription Drugs Affects Pricing in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Freeman: Israel is useless to US power projection

Freeman: Israel is useless to US power projection

Iraq: The war logs | World news | guardian.co.uk

Iraq: The war logs | World news | guardian.co.uk

Why Reporters Must Reveal Illegal Leakers

Why Reporters Must Reveal Illegal Leakers

We Need A What Mayor?

Looking for a What Mayor?

Back in 1989, then-mayoral candidate Richard Daley got into political hot water for telling a group of Polish supporters that Chicago needed “a white mayor who can sit down with everybody.”

You could immediately hear the city’s collective knickers twisting. Racial politics are of course unseemly, divisive and unacceptable. In a political pickle, Daley chose to claim he had actually said Chicago needs a “wet” mayor. “Come on”, you say, “Nobody would fall for that,” especially since the actual “white mayor” comment had been recorded and replayed on radio and tv ad nauseum, or ad delighteum if you were a Daley opponent.

In 2010, after almost two decades in office, Mayor Daley would beg to differ.

Now comes State Senator Rickey Hendon. He describes himself as “the black Sarah Palin,” whom I consider the white Al Sharpton. Senator Hendon desires, as do various other melanin-rich pols, to become the “consensus black candidate” for mayor.

To Senator Hendon, a fellow westsider, I say, “wrong move Rickey!” We already have enough Palin clones to keep the makers of black lip liner in business for decades. Chicago needs a post-racial, big tent mayor to unify the city. And Rickey might be just the guy to do it. He needs merely to reset his pitch and rise above a color campaign to one directly focused on crucial issues like how to avoid federal prison - no wait, that’s the campaign for governor, my mistake.

But seriously, Rickey Hendon needs to renounce his current, color-conscious position-- he needs to pull a Daley. He could claim that he didn’t say we need a consensus black candidate but a consensus blank candidate, a clean slate upon whom Chicagoans could write their dreams of a fairer, more prosperous city.

“Sure,” Hendon could say, “‘consensus blank candidate’ is a ridiculous, meaningless phrase that makes no sense in English. Which proves my qualification to be mayor of Chicago.”

Khaled Mesh’al lays out new Hamas policy direction

Khaled Mesh’al lays out new Hamas policy direction

I am ABSOLUTELY NOT A BIN LADEN SUPPORTER!!! I am a Jew and an American, aka target.

However I believer very strongly that to beat him we must counter his aruments and we can only do that by knowing what they are. This is my edit of Bin Laden’s 1996 Fatwa in which he calls for war against the USA. The PBS NewsHour translation of the 1996 declaration can be found here. - af

Praise be to Allah, we seek His help and ask for his pardon. We take refuge in Allah from our wrongs and bad deeds. I bear witness that there is no God except - and that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.

My Muslim Brothers (particularly those of the Arab Peninsula):

It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies. Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq.

The latest and the greatest of these aggressions, incurred by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM) is the occupation of the land of the two Holy Places —the foundation of the house of Islam, by the armies of the American Crusaders and their allies.

It is out of date and no longer acceptable to claim that the presence of the crusaders is necessity and only a temporary measures to protect the land of the two Holy Places. Especially when the civil and the military infrastructures of Iraq were savagely destroyed showing the depth of the Zionist-Crusaders hatred to the Muslims and their children,

It is now clear that those who claim that the blood of the American solders (the enemy occupying the land of the Muslims) should be protected are merely repeating what is imposed on them by the regime; fearing the aggression and interested in saving themselves. It is a duty now on every tribe in the Arab Peninsula to fight, Jihad, in the cause of Allah and to cleanse the land from those occupiers. Their wealth is a booty to those who kill them.

We say to the Defense Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty-four hours!

But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the New World order. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, Aden and Mogadishu.

Terrorizing you, while you are carrying arms on our land, is a legitimate and morally demanded duty. It is a legitimate right well known to all humans and other creatures. Your example and our example is like a snake which entered into a house of a man and got killed by him.

The youths hold you responsible for all of the killings and evictions of the Muslims and the violation of the sanctities, carried out by your Zionist brothers in Lebanon; you openly supplied them with arms and finance. More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable aggression (sanction) imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children. You, the USA, together with the Saudi regime are responsible for the shedding of the blood of these innocent children. Due to all of that, whatever treaty you have with our country is now null and void.

These youths are different from your soldiers. Your problem will be how to convince your troops to fight, while our problem will be how to restrain our youths to wait for their turn in fighting and in operations and sacrifice from father to father. These youths love death as you love life.

As for our daughters, wives, sisters and mothers they should remember the courage and the personality of Fatima, daughter of Khatab, when she accepted Islam and stood up in front of her brother, Omar Ibn Al-Khatab and challenged him (Our women instigate their brothers to fight in the cause of Allah. )

My Muslim Brothers of the World:

Your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy Places are calling upon your help and asking you to take part in fighting against the enemy -your enemy and their enemy- the Americans and the Israelis. they are asking you to do whatever you can, with one own means and ability, to expel the enemy, humiliated and defeated, out of the sanctities of Islam.

Our Lord, the people of the cross had come with their horses (soldiers) and occupied the land of the two Holy places. And the Zionist Jews fiddling as they wish with the Al Aqsa Mosque, the route of the ascendance of the messenger of Allah (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM). Our Lord, shatter their gathering, divide them among themselves, shaken the earth under their feet and give us control over them Our Lord, show us the wonderment of your ability in them!

Our Lord, make the youths of Islam steadfast and descend patience on them and guide their shots!

Our Lord, unify the Muslims and bestow love among their hearts!

Our Lord, bless Muhammad, Your slave and messenger, his family and

descendants, and companions and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.

And our last supplication is: All praise is due to Allah .

Helpful Blogging Links: Tips for Better Vlogging (video blogging) | Blogging Basics 101

Helpful Blogging Links: Tips for Better Vlogging (video blogging) | Blogging Basics 101

An American jihadi in on military mission in Somaila - fascinating!

In this Vanguard extra, Abu Monsoor Al-Amriki -- aka "American Jihadi" Omar Hammami, originally from Daphne, Alabama -- outlines Al-Shabaab's plan to ambush Ethiopian and Somali troops. This and similar videos are intended to help recruit other young Muslims from the West to wage jihad overseas.

"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.

For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.

"Germany has the oldest students, youngest retirees and longest vacationing workers in the world"

The Germans have traditionally regarded their model as "Sonderweg", that is a middle of the road approach between free market liberalism and state-centered socialism. The welfare system is an integrated part of Germany's "social market economy." Particularly significant is the fact that in Germany, more than in most countries, welfare policies have been mechanisms of economic governance. That is welfare policies are designed to enhance employment effects by withdrawing surplus labor from the economy. In short, early retirement schemes or long university programs serve to constrain the supply of labor when unemployment rates are high. This has prompted critics to charge that Germany has the oldest students, youngest retirees and longest vacationing workers in the world. European Welfare States - Information and Resources

The World's Most Profitable Companies

Why is is so hard to find images of Furkan Dogan?

Damn, the Israeli's are smart! Somehow they have managed to make it really difficult to find, via a Google search, images of Furkan Dogan the American college student killed by Israeli commandos on 31 May. They obviously don't want hm to become the symbol of he flotilla massacre. Wanna join the movement to frustrate them?

Make him your profile image, blog the pic and make sure it's labeled.

Post baby, post!

Freegaza - Survivor testimonies

“The Israeli navy fired on the ships five minutes before commandos descended from ropes that dangled from helicopters. “Freegaza - Survivor testimonies - Haneen Zuaby - Minister Israeli Knesset

According to video released by the IDF...

There were two attempts by Israeli troops to board the Mavi Marmara. The first a water assault, was repelled by the passengers.



This video record of the failed assault establishes certain facts:

1) The passengers intended to keep the IDF commandos off the ship.
2) The passengers had sticks and metal rods which they shook in the universal warning, "Come here and I got something fo' yo' ass!"
3) The IDF was not prepared for the resistance they met.
4) At this point, no one has gotten hurt.

There is now a lull in the action and the IDF has lots of choices including:

a) Ask to inspect the ship's cargo at sea
b) Try to negotiate a non-violent helicopter boarding.
c) Warn the folks on the deck to drop their sticks and pipes and kitchen knives and announce that if they impede the troops' landing the IDF intends to use deadly force.
d) Wait until the ship is closer to Gaza and in shallow water then disable it thus reducing the danger to passengers should the ship itself be damaged and sink.

As always, there were lots non-violent alternatives and then there was:
z) Use more force.

Having chosen a hostile helicopter landing the chopper hovered above the Mavi Marmara and according to the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, The boarding party had real-time photographs of the ships from IDF helicopters hovering overhead,

So they could see (if they could not figure out) that the folks waving the sticks and bars who had repelled the first boarding attempt had not gone away.

The IDF still had all the nonviolent options available to them. They could have postponed, cancelled, rethought the attack. They could again have warned the folks on the deck that resistance would be met with deadly force. But, again according to the Haaretz report.

a decision was made to board the Marmara with 14 commandos, some of whom rappelled from a helicopter. They carried rifles loaded with paint balls for crowd control, as well as loaded pistols, but the latter were not supposed to be used.

Former Israeli Navy chief Ami Ayalon said in Highland Park last week, "Professional soldiers know that anytime you send warriors into an operation among civilians you are sentencing a certain number of civilians will die. Whatever politicians may say, professionals know that civilians will die."

Knowing all this some IDF commander gave the order, "go!"

As the video shows,

After the first paratrooper was captured and disarmed the commanders were able to break off the attack and begin negotiations for the captured soldier. But they chose to continue and send more young Israeli soldiers into a gauntlet of angry people violently defending their boat.

The Torah warns against placing a stumbling block before the blind, which the rabbis interpret to mean that you may not take an action that would tempt a normal person to sin.

At every point in the confrontation and despite clear warnings from the passengers, decisions to escalate force were made by IDF commanders with easily predictable results and tragic results for the victims and for Israel.

"War is the remedy my enemy has chosen, I say let him have as much of it as he wants." - Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

The Interrogation Documents: Debating U.S. Policy and Methods

The Interrogation Documents: Debating U.S. Policy and Methods

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES IN U.S. CUSTODY

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES IN U.S. CUSTODY

LogoBlog - Top Logo Design Company Reviews and Resource Portal

LogoBlog - Top Logo Design Company Reviews and Resource Portal

CorpWatch : Private Contractors and Torture at Abu Ghraib, Iraq

CorpWatch : Private Contractors and Torture at Abu Ghraib, Iraq

Is That Legal?: If It Was Torture in Mississippi, Then It's Definitely Torture, Right?

Is That Legal?: If It Was Torture in Mississippi, Then It's Definitely Torture, Right?

Washington's Blog: Forget Morality, Humanity or Legality: Torture DOESN'T WORK

Washington's Blog: Forget Morality, Humanity or Legality: Torture DOESN'T WORK

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) -- ADL Terrorist Symbol Database

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) -- ADL Terrorist Symbol Database

Nanosong breaks down the miracle of the miniature--with puppets: Scientific American Blog

Nanosong breaks down the miracle of the miniature--with puppets: Scientific American Blog

Foreign-supplied weapons used against civilians by Israel and Hamas | Amnesty International

Foreign-supplied weapons used against civilians by Israel and Hamas | Amnesty International

U.S. commander: Troops 'stalemated' in Afghanistan - Afghanistan- msnbc.com

U.S. commander: Troops 'stalemated' in Afghanistan - Afghanistan- msnbc.com

On our way to history!

On our way to history!

Sent from my iPhone

Gmail - Khalid Mish'al: We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid | World news | The Guardian - afreeman3@gmail.com

Gmail - Khalid Mish'al: We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid | World news | The Guardian - afreeman3@gmail.com

Haniyeh: All Palestinian factions should honor truce - Israel News, Ynetnews

Haniyeh: All Palestinian factions should honor truce - Israel News, Ynetnews

Excerpt - HAMAS and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics

Excerpt - HAMAS and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics

Hamas offers Israel a 10-year truce - Israel-Palestinians- msnbc.com

Hamas offers Israel a 10-year truce - Israel-Palestinians- msnbc.com

Before/After The Lull

Shin Bet Weekly Terror Update - November 06, 2008

Weekly Update - November 06, 2008

The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos

The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos

Iran 'restraining Shia militias in Iraq' - Telegraph

Iran 'restraining Shia militias in Iraq' - Telegraph

Six Bad Mood Busters

Six Bad Mood Busters

MP4s are devil's device, says Orthodox Court - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews

MP4s are devil's device, says Orthodox Court - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews

McCain: I 'Didn't Love America' Until Held Prisoner (VIDEO) - Politics on The Huffington Post

McCain: I 'Didn't Love America' Until Held Prisoner (VIDEO) - Politics on The Huffington Post

Lara Logan on The Daily Show

Virtual Orgasm Simulator

Virtual Orgasm Simulator

Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance, Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News' Lara Logan About Evading Capture And What He Thinks Of George Bush - C

Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance, Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News' Lara Logan About Evading Capture And What He Thinks Of George Bush - CBS News

France's model healthcare system - The Boston Globe

France's model healthcare system - The Boston Globe

"Rural Converts Journey Into Judaism - Forward.com"

"Rural Converts Journey Into Judaism - Forward.com"

Young Osama

Osama bin Laden’s old school—the Al Thagher Model School—sits on several dozen arid acres lined by eucalyptus trees, whose branches have been twisted by winds from the Red Sea. The campus spreads north from the Old Mecca Road, near downtown Jedda, the Saudi Arabian port city where bin Laden spent most of his childhood and teen-age years. The school’s main building is a two-story rectangle constructed from concrete and fieldstone in a featureless modern style. Inside, dim hallways connect two wings of classrooms. In bin Laden’s day—he graduated in 1976—there was a wing for middle-school students, and another for the high school. more

Lugar-Obama: New Initiatives in Cooperation Threat Reduction

Lugar-Obama: New Initiatives in Cooperation Threat Reduction

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar chaired a hearing on “New Initiatives in Cooperative Threat Reduction” on Thursday, February 9, 2006. The Honorable Robert Joseph, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, testified at the hearing that discussed the Lugar-Obama bill.

Introduced on November 1, 2005, by Sens. Lugar and Barack Obama (D-IL), Lugar-Obama is comprehensive legislation that would expand the cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons. It is patterned after the Nunn-Lugar program that focuses on weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union and would expand the detection and interdiction of weapons and materials of mass destruction.

Senate Passes Coburn-Obama Bill to Create Internet Database of Federal Spending

September 8, 2006

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) today hailed the Senate’s passage of the “Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act,” a bill that will create a Google-like search engine and database to track approximately $1 trillion in federal grants, contracts, earmarks and loans.

“Every American has the right to know how their government spends their money, and then to hold elected officials accountable for those decisions. I applaud my colleagues for unanimously supporting a bill that will aid the American people in that effort,” Dr. Coburn said. “This bill is a small but significant step toward changing the culture in Washington. Only by fostering a culture of openness, transparency and accountability will Congress come together to address the mounting fiscal challenges that threaten our future prosperity.” more

Paying Insurgents Not to Fight - by Paul Craig Roberts

Paying Insurgents Not to Fight - by Paul Craig Roberts

Seven Questions: The World According to Hamas

"He's been called a terrorist, an extremist, and the mastermind behind the recent chaos in Gaza. The state of Israel has even tried to assassinate him. But Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, insists he is a moderate man in search of peace for the Palestinian people."

****

FP: Should the American people, who remember what Hamas did in the 1990s with suicide bombers and who read reports about the Qassam rockets, be scared of Hamas?

KM: Hamas is a moderate movement. It is not religiously dogmatic. We are Muslims because we are from a Muslim environment, just as you and others are from a Christian environment. We accept religious pluralism and, likewise, political pluralism. And we have open relations with Christians. And third, the martyrdom operations are part of the response to the Israeli massacres. So why do the people in America, or the West, or the world in general, criticize what is being done by Hamas, or the Palestinian people, but they do not criticize Israel’s behavior? Israel is extremely heavily armed and the strongest state in the region, while we are isolated. Our rockets are extremely primitive, while Israel has American rockets, Apache [helicopter gunships], and laser-guided missiles. more

Elevator Prayer in Cairo

I've ridden in many, many Chicago and New York elevators where this would have been very useful... and I LOVE Current.com!

Waving Goodbye to Hegemony - NYTimes

By PARAG KHANNA - Turn on the TV today, and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s 1999. Democrats and Republicans are bickering about where and how to intervene, whether to do it alone or with allies and what kind of world America should lead. Democrats believe they can hit a reset button, and Republicans believe muscular moralism is the way to go. It’s as if the first decade of the 21st century didn’t happen — and almost as if history itself doesn’t happen. But the distribution of power in the world has fundamentally altered over the two presidential terms of George W. Bush, both because of his policies and, more significant, despite them. Maybe the best way to understand how quickly history happens is to look just a bit ahead. more

Bush pardons himself for war crimes?

"Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War"

One more nail in the coffin of plausible deniability, Iraq: The War Card - The Center for Public Integrity

"Mr. Olmert, tear down this wall - never mind!"

Palestinians Topple Gaza Wall and Cross to Egypt - New York Times

Heath Ledger, Actor, Is Found Dead at 28 - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

Heathcliff Ledger died young and will make a fine looking corpse, two outa three ain't bad. I predict there will someday be an urban myth that he did not die but faked his suicide so he could live the wild, underground gay life we all presumably want.

Dems plans bad for pharma - Medical Marketing and Media

Dems plans bad for pharma - Medical Marketing and Media

Key issues in U.N. bid to curb Iran nuclear program | International | Reuters

Key issues in U.N. bid to curb Iran nuclear program | International | Reuters

Politics, not military force helps US in Al Anbar

Political missteps by Islamists and buckets of cash staunched US bleeding in western Iraq Maj General John F. Kelly, incoming commander of MNF in Iraq tells NPR.

Adding insult to expense and injury, those trigger -happy boys of Blackwater gassed US troops.

tehran times : Columbia professors plan to visit Iran to apologize to Ahmadinejad

NEW YORK (MNA) – An academic delegation of Columbia University professors and deans of faculties plans to visit Tehran to officially apologize to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

The delegation plans to express regret for the insulting remarks Columbia University President Lee Bollinger directed at Ahmadinejad on September 24 in his introductory speech, the Mehr News Agency correspondent in New York reported.

Since the incident, the deans and professors from the faculties of history, anthropology, Middle Eastern studies, philosophy and Islamic studies have criticized Bollinger’s behavior toward Ahmadinejad. more

2003 Memo Says Iranian Leaders Backed Talks - washingtonpost.com

The Swiss ambassador to Iran informed U.S. officials in 2003 that an Iranian proposal for comprehensive talks with the United States had been reviewed and approved by Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; then-President Mohammad Khatami; and then-Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, according to a copy of the cover letter to the Iranian document.

"I got the clear impression that there is a strong will of the regime to tackle the problem with the U.S. now and to try it with this initiative," Tim Guldimann, the ambassador, wrote in a cover letter that was faxed to the State Department on May 4, 2003. Guldimann attached a one-page Iranian document labeled "Roadmap" that listed U.S. and Iranian aims for potential negotiations, putting on the table such issues as an end to Iran's support for anti-Israeli militants, action against terrorist groups on Iranian soil and acceptance of Israel's right to exist. more

"Book Reveals Details of Iran’s Diplomatic Outreach to Israel - Forward.com"

A soon to be released book details previously unknown backroom contacts between Iran and Israel in 2003, when Tehran was pushing the Bush administration into entering comprehensive diplomatic negotiations. more

Saudi King Condemns "Illegal" Occupation of Iraq - New York Times

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Arab leaders on Wednesday that the American occupation of Iraq is “illegal,” and he warned that unless Arab governments settle their differences, foreign powers like the United States would continue to dictate the region’s politics. more

"Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" Cartoon On Iran, The U.S., And The Black Hole Of Iraq

The Israel Lobby

The amazing thing about the book is that it made me much more sympathetic to George Bush! This vid is not as shocking as the book but in its own way just as important. For one thing, it's an example of what we never see in the US, a serious, thoughtful examination of the workings of the Lobby. Vive la France!

Snack Torture - Palestinians forced to eat Israeli Junk Food

Soldiers indicted on charges of abusing Palestinian prisoners

At the conclusion of an investigation lasting more than a year, the Military Advocate General has charged five soldiers from the Nahshon Battalion with three counts of aggravated assault.

Three of the soldiers have already been discharged from the army and one was transferred to another unit. Only one soldier remains in active duty in the battalion.

According to the indictment, the soldiers were responsible for transferring 13 Palestinian detainees from the Tulkarm Regional Brigade to an IDF military court in northern Israel in April 2006.

During the journey, the soldiers grabbed the prisoners by their hair, struck their chests and necks and demanded they repeat the number soldiers had previously assigned them with. When a prisoner would say the correct number, the soldiers would fall upon him in a beating frenzy.

The indictment also charges the soldiers with forced the prisoners to eat Bamba, an Israel snack food made of peanut butter. The soldiers reportedly ridiculed the prisoners while they ate. The soldiers also stopped along the way to buy French fries and force-fed them to the Palestinians. more

Martyr Mom

A friend of mine is an Ethiopian Jew. As a child, the first word she was taught, before "mommy" and "daddy," was "Jerusalem." Looks like Palestinians have that same kind of commitment.

Pres. Ronald Reagan & The "Afghan Freedom Fighters"

By the President of the United States of America, 21 March 1983

The tragedy of Afghanistan continues as the valiant and courageous Afghan freedom fighters [The Taliban] persevere in standing up against the brutal power of the Soviet invasion and occupation. The Afghan people are struggling to reclaim their freedom, which was taken from them when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December of 1979.

In this three-year period the Soviet Union has been unable to subjugate Afghanistan. The Soviet forces are pitted against an extraordinary people who, in their determination to preserve the character of their ancient land, have organized an effective and still spreading country-wide resistance. The resistance of the Afghan freedom fighters is an example to all the world of the invincibility of the ideals we in this country hold most dear, the ideals of freedom and independence. more

Blogged with Flock

Go Al Gore!

The media savvy climate gang has a convenient idea: simple numbers to shape climate concersations: 2, 445 and 25 - 40,

Steel strike of 1919 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Turns out that back in the old days Republicans loved illegal Mexican immigrants, and Negroes too!

Israel is World's Fourth Largest Arms Exporter - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Arutz Sheva

OK, so maybe the IDF lost to Hassan Nasrallah and Hizbollah, maybe it's a major destination for the slave trade, the country may be committing war crimes in Gaza but Israel is still arms dealer to the planet.

What is treason?

My buddy Jay Friedheim, an admiralty attorney in Honolulu is not mentioned in this story but he made it happen. - a

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 — As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, American officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence.

By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors. more

Pentagon doves behind the latest NIE?

Is this Washington or the Kremlin?

The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran was the final factor in a military equation that now appears to guarantee that there will be no war with Iran during the Bush administration. It meshes with the views of the operational types at the Pentagon, who have steadfastly resisted the march to war led by some Administration hawks. The anti-war group was composed of Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs; and Admiral William Fallon, who oversees the U.S. forces that would have had to wage that war. In recent months, all have pushed back privately and publicly, on the wisdom of going to war with Tehran. Indeed, the Pentagon's intelligence units were instrumental in forming the NIE's conclusions. more

One third of Israelis "Strictly observant."

It may be bad for Middle East peace but it's great for the Rabbi business, a recent survey claims 80 % of Israelis say they observe "religious traditions."

CNN - Hamas founder sets Israel truce terms - October 7, 1997

Israel calls offer 'a positive change'
October 7, 1997
Web posted at: 10:43 a.m. EDT (1443 GMT) In this story:

* Offer to end suicide bombings
* Palestinian-Israeli peace talks resume
* Related stories and sites

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (CNN) -- Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic fundamentalist movement Hamas, said Tuesday he would forge a truce with Israel that would end suicide bombings if Israel withdrew completely from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and removed all of its Jewish settlements.

"If Israel withdraws completely from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and it removes all of its settlements, I will make a truce with it. You have my word for it," he said.

David Bar-Illan, a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the peace overture was "a positive change" despite the "unacceptable conditions."

In the past, militants within Hamas have never indicated a willingness to negotiate. Instead, they have spoken of a "holy war" to establish an Islamic state in all of what is now Israel. more

Are suicide bombers kamikazes?

By Marylou Barry

Japan's former ambassador to Lebanon, Naoto Amaki, had a telling conversation with Hezbollah's Sheik Hassan Nasrallah shortly following al-Qaida's September 2001 attack on America.

"He told me, 'We learned how to do suicide missions from the kamikazes,'" Amaki recounted. "Nasrallah said the Shiites all commend the Japanese 'samurai spirit.'" But the ambassador rejected Nasrallah's twisted tribute.

Are shahids kamikazes? No way, say the real kamikazes. Now octogenarian veterans, Japanese kamikaze survivors deeply resent being compared to terrorists and don't hesitate to explain why. more

Hamas: Ceasefire for return to 1967 border - Israel News, Ynetnews

Come on, how can ya not love a jihadi with a comb over? more

Mashaal okays state with 1967 borders | Jerusalem Post

Hamas politburo leader Khaled Mashaal reiterated Wednesday that his group would not recognize Israel. In an interview published Thursday in the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat and cited by Maariv, Mashaal said he was willing to accept a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, as well as a hudna [truce] with Israel but not to recognize the "occupation." More

Greenpeace Strippers Disrupt Peres

Protestors led away from conference on nuclear Middle East at Tel Aviv University

Greenpeace activists who arrived Thursday morning at a conference on the nuclear issue at Tel Aviv University stripped in protest a few moments before the start of a speech by President Shimon Peres.

The protestors carried leaflets bearing the messages "strip the Middle East of nuclear programs" and "a new Middle East = clean from nuclear programs." They were briskly removed from the hall by security guards. more

World Court Rules Israel's Wall Illegal

Oh yeah, I forgot, it's a "barrier."

Ron Paul v Mike Huckabee on Iraq

Iraq Credits Iran for Helping to Curb Attacks by Militias - New York Times

No, it can't be - Iraq Credits Iran for Helping to Curb Attacks by Militias - New York Times

FOX News Porn

How can you not love FOX News Porn?

Articles of Impeachment against VP Richard Bruce Cheney

Taliban stronghold, 7 November 2007

The Green Bomb

Russia test world's most powerful non-nuclear weapon.



MOSCOW - The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world’s most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia’s state television reported Tuesday.

It was the latest show of Russia’s military muscle amid chilly relations with the United States.

Channel One television said the new weapon, nicknamed the “dad of all bombs,” is four times more powerful than the U.S. “mother of all bombs.” More

Omert and Peretz, not Israel's only boobs

Dirty Kuffer

More Jihadi hip-hop

Al Qaeda - To black Americans

Say what you want about their methods but this mashup of Ayman al Zawahiri and Malcolm X makes a whole lot more sense than anything Obama or Al Sharpton are saying.